The American Unitarian Conference (AUC) is a religious organization and a missionary and publication society which serves the needs of individual Unitarian believers. It was founded in 2000 by several

Unitarian Universalist Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...

s who felt that the

Unitarian Universalist Association Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, both ...

(UUA) had become too theologically liberal and too political. They decided their mission was to promote classical

Unitarianism Unitarianism (from Latin language, Latin ''unitas'' "unity, oneness", from ''unus'' "one") is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian branch of Christian theology. Most other branches of Christianity and the major Churches accept the Trinity, doctri ...

, which they argued as being based on Christian beliefs though not solely confined by them. They also hoped their organization would be of interest to non-Christians who embrace generic or philosophical theism and

Deism Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning " god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation o ...

. Unitarianism as understood within the AUC has as a main tenet the belief in

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

as one person as opposed to

trinitarianism The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...

which holds to the belief in a God of three persons. Among the classical Unitarian principles that the AUC promotes are the unity and providence of God, the compatibility of

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

and

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...

, and the ability of

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

and

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

to work together to improve the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...

. In classical Unitarian fashion, the AUC does not require adherence to a

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

to become a member. All who are in agreement with the AUC's religious principles, regardless of denominational affiliation or lack thereof, may join. The AUC does not exclude non-Christians, but many if not most of its members are Unitarian Christians. The AUC does not engage in political activism or release political statements except in cases that involve religious freedom and church/state separation. The AUC is run by volunteers. Their motto is "Faith, Freedom, Reason."

Footnotes

External links

American Unitarian Conference (official website)
Christian organizations established in 2000 Unitarianism Nontrinitarian denominations {{Christian-org-stub